Occasionally the planets align for a brief moment and something exceptional happens. This evening, under the lights and a relentless cold rain, my soccer team faced Needham in a rescheduled match to determine first place in our division and promotion next season. Both teams were undefeated on the season and our last head-to-head match resulted in a 0-0 tie. I stepped on the pitch fully recovered from the string of injuries that have plagued me this year and played one the best games of my career in the most important match of the season. In the opening minutes, I stripped a defender of the ball and drew two others to the end line before splitting them with a perfect pass to a forward at the top of the box who touched once and easily beat the keeper to gain the early lead and momentum.

Shortly before the end of the first half I volleyed a rocket past the keeper off a rebound. The ball found the back of the net before I hit the ground after the goalie took my legs out. In the second half I scored again off a rebound, this time with my first header of the season. Beyond the goals and the assist, I played with an unprecedented level of intensity and feel like this set the tone for the entire team. We celebrated this pivotal victory afterwards at Serafina’s by which time the adrenaline had worn off and I discovered an excruciatingly painful injury to my right pinky toe. It remains to be seen if I will be able to compete in either of the two playoff matches (north vs. south divisions) the first of which is scheduled for Sunday.